Support TIME. Preserve the truth.
World

Starmer's office says US is trying to influence Britain's democracy

st va

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that the US is trying to interfere in British democracy after US Vice President JD Vance blamed mass migration for the murder of British teenager Henry Nowak.

The prime minister's office responded after Vance claimed in a post on X that Nowak would be alive "if recent generations of European elites had stood against the policy of mass immigration, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it."

The Prime Minister's Office, without mentioning Vance's name, said its response to his comments was that "in recent days we have seen people trying to interfere with our democracy and seeking to foment division on our streets."

A government spokesman said Nowak's family has asked that his death not be used to create division, hatred or further tension. 

Nowak's killing sparked a national outcry after footage emerged of police officers handcuffing Nowak while he lay in critical condition from stab wounds, after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, had falsely accused him of racist abuse. Digwa, a British-born Sikh, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.